I've spent almost my entire career as a journalist covering tech in and around Silicon Valley, meeting entrepreneurs, executives and engineers, watching companies rise and fall (or in the case of Apple, rise, fall and rise again) and attending confabs and conferences. Before joining Forbes in February 2012, I had a very brief stint in corporate communications at HP (on purpose) and worked for more than six years on the tech team at Bloomberg News, where I dived into the financial side of tech. Before that, I was Silicon Valley bureau chief for Interactive Week, a contributor to Wired and Upside, and a reporter and news editor for MacWeek. The first computer game I ever played was Zork, my collection of now-vintage tech T-shirts includes a tie-dye BMUG classic and a HyperCard shirt featuring a dog and fire hydrant. When I can work at home, I settle into the black Herman Miller Aeron chair that I picked up when NeXT closed its doors. You can email me at cguglielmo@forbes.com.

When Microsoft Corp. and Nokia Oyj paired up in Feb. 2011, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said the goal was to make the mobile market more of a “three-horse race” and to turn Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system into a “challenger” to Apple’s iPhone and iOS software and phones powered by Google’s Android OS.

The test of whether the partnership will work begins today with the introduction of two new Lumia smartphones featuring Windows Phone 8.

The Lumia 920, which features new camera technology, enhanced location services and wireless charging, and Lumia 820, with exchangeable shells, were introduced at a media event in New York that included a quick appearance by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

The devices debut as Apple, fresh off a patent victory with Samsung over smartphone designs, prepares to unveil the latest incarnation of its top-selling iPhone on Sept. 12.

Nokia didn’t disclose specific availability or pricing. Elop said the company would begin introducing the new Lumia’s in select markets starting in the fourth quarter and then broadening distribution from there.

“We shared a vision with Microsoft that we could create a new kind of smartphone experience,” Elop told reporters and analysts at an event in New York today. “We believe we could offer people an alternative to the monochromatic black boxes you see out there today…We said that we would create a distinctive Nokia experience.”

“Nokia has shown that they can clearly be different but they must show consumers that different is also better,” said Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Gartner Inc. who attended the New York event. “New features with an evolution of a winning form factor can help Nokia stand out from both other Windows Phone vendors as well as other competitors. No consumer will mistake these phones for other devices on the market.”

Elop, who took over as CEO in September 2010 to help resuscitate the once-dominant phone maker, said the Finland-based company is going through a “remarkable transition” that involves removing layers of management, becoming “more nimble” and embarking on a “clear strategy” to revive its business.

It also involves ditching its homegrown Symbian mobile operating system and moving to Microsoft’s software. Nokia, which has lost market share since Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007, needs the new Microsoft-based phones to be a hit to revive its flagging fortunes. Microsoft is counting on Windows Phones from Nokia, Samsung and others to help it gain traction in a market where it hasn’t had much success.

While shipments of Windows-based phones rose 115 percent in the second quarter of 2012, Microsoft’s held only a 3.5 percent share of the market, researcher IDC said. Android led the market with a 68.1 percent share, while Apple’s iOS had a 16.9 percent share.

“Windows Phone is still a distant competitor to Android and iOS,” IDC said. “Microsoft will need to generate additional momentum from Windows Phone 8 devices, which will be introduced this fall, if it is to narrow the share gap.”

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For windows phone OS in the USA, the question remains the same one as it was this time last year and the year before.

Can Microsoft find a way to get carrier support and retail support. Without it Windows phone is doomed.

I continue to believe MSFT can’t grow share until they get carriers to really support and back the products. MS needs to find a way to help carriers profit from Windows Phone OS, perhaps offer them a slice of the Apps pie….

Over the last five years we have watched Microsoft fail every in the phone sector about 6 months, and every time we are told success is around the corner, that everything prior was prelude to the next release. So Will I still have to hunt around T or At&T to find the one or two windows offerings hidden among 200 android devices? Or will MS finally cut some deals where ATT etc are delighted to see me buy a windows phone…

Seconded – the tech commentators and geeks who buy unlocked are the ones who are discovering Windows Phone., Without the carriers getting behind WP seriously (and not just the lip service and thank you for your marketing spend we’ve seen so far in 2011), it’s a very tall order for name and brand recognition to deliver US market share.

I’m on my second WP with the latest being the Lumia 900. This phone simply works and I dig it. I will move up to the 920 next year as my current phone isn’t even two months old yet. The first time I bought a WP AT&T pushed it but not the second time. To them the 900 seemed to just be there.

After todays showing the only thing i can say is plan B is needed fast (and the stock market seems to agree), it was just like last year winphone 7 presentation nothing new sad to see a european company like nokia become such a train wreck (thank you mr. Elop). Sad really.

Nothing new? I don’t think so. Now, with 7 that was nothing but CE and that platform is dead. WP8 is not the old WP7 or lower and the hardware in the 920 is everything people expect in a high-end smartphone. I’ve been reading comments all day where folks are putting down this phone and they have seen nothing but a picture of it.